Thursday, October 06, 2016

Back in the day, remote controlled vehicles (i.e., “R/C”) was a
lot of fun to have — cars and military vehicles and even planes could be
controlled from a distance. Today it’s all about Unmanned Aircraft Systems — or
as they are more commonly known, drones. Drones take the idea of having a
flying machine and ups it to the nth degree in a way that R/C never could. Plus
unlike R/C vehicles, drone’s are able to do a lot more than just fly. So it
makes sense to break a drone down into its basic components in order to decide
which drone is best for you.

Drone Specifications

A drone at its heart is a flying machine. This means it has to
have a means to propel itself aloft (propellers) and stay there. The battery
powering the drone determines how long a flight can be, and must be charged
after each flight before another can take place. Also built into the drone is
acceptance of commands from a remote controller. Sensors to keep an eye on
altitude and stabilize the flight can be included as well as the ability to
build in GPS, crash avoidance and other more exotic systems.

Drone Video

A “birds-eye view” is custom made for a drone. But since the
person is earthbound, it’s up to a camera lens to be the one seeing what the
drone is flying over. A
high-resolution camera in a drone is becoming commonplace (for
example, 720p or 1080p or even 4K resolution) and videos can alternated with HD
resolution pictures. Memory cards store what the camera sees, although it is
also possible on some drones to stream the video to the owner’s smartphone
running a special app.

Drone Control

Wireless control is the basis for flying a drone, and the most
obvious kind of controller is one that you hold in your hand and which is
automatically linked to the drone. Learning to flying a drone does take some
practice, but the learning curve is not onerous at all, especially in the case
of a drone that is controlled through a smartphone app. There’s also another
advantage of smartphone control — in some cases the phone’s screen becomes a
view screen that works with the controller to show you what the drone is seeing
(through streaming video).

what

Drone Registration

The final thing to know about owning and operating a drone is
that it must now be registered with the FAA (Federal Aviation Administration).
This applies to pretty much anyone buying a drone for recreation purposesto fly outdoors (i.e., non-commercial) but is
a lot easier than that of going to the DMV for a driver’s license. A drone
registration can be done online
(https://drone-registration.net/product/drone-registration-form) and is good
for three years, providing you’ve paid the minor fee. This doesn’t give you
carte blanche to fly your drone anyway you’d like because — just as in having a
car — there are rules that apply. Most of these are common sense, like not
flying a drone near an airport or where airplanes might be found over a fire or
near a military installation or in a crowd. But as there are some serious rules
in place, and to avoid causing a hazardous situation to exist, check out the information found on the FAA’s
website (https://www.faa.gov/uas/).

Drones can come as simple or sophisticated,
small or large. Choosing the right type of drone is a personal thing,
especially since they are not made a la carte at this time — what the drone
comes with is what you get.But for
anyone looking to fly the skies, nothing beats watching your own drone flying
amidst the clouds, under your control.